Career Shmeer
by mulaNa
Summary: When Lily finds herself subconsciously planning her future to accommodate with James during the Career Week, she begins to question her true feelings for James.


Summary: When Lily finds herself subconsciously planning her future to accommodate with James during the Career Week, she begins to question her true feelings.  
  
Rating: PG 13  
  
Timeline: Set during the end of their 5th year, just before the OWLS. During the Career Advice Week.  
  
Author's Note: I got this idea while reading Order of The Phoenix again, during the Career Week thingy. I loved that part, I kept re-reading it. I loved any scenes between McGonagall and Umbridge because I just love how McGonagall tears Umbridge to pieces.  
  
I'm not sure if J.K ever mentioned Lily and James's career (maybe she did in Prisoner of Azkaban but I haven't read that for a long time) so I'm just making them as Aurors. It makes sense because one they were in the Order of The Phoenix and two there must be a reason that Voldemort was after them. Yeah, I know Voldemort kills at random but he was looking for Lily and James (hence the reason they had to have a secret keeper) so they must be Aurors. Plus, they defeated Voldemort thrice, which isn't exactly a piece of cake.  
  
My facts could be wrong so don't flame ya! Note that during James's meeting with McGonagall, it sounds a lot like the one Harry had with her. I wanted to portray the whole like father like son.  
  
Seeking: Someone who knows their facts about Harry Potter to beta my HP  
stories.  
  
Disclaimer: Lily, James, Hogwarts, The Marauders, the faculty and  
anything recognizable belongs to J.K Rowling.  
  
Shameless Plug: Please read my other Lily and James story called This  
Crazy Heat Wave.  
  
Career Schmeer  
  
"And with that, class, concludes today's lesson." Said Professor  
McGonagall as she successfully transformed herself back from a beady eyed  
cat to her normal self. She was not fazed by the tremendous applause she  
received as though it was nothing more than she had expected.  
  
"Settle down, settle down. Now, I would like a foot long essay about The  
Common Mistakes Wizards Have Made While Transfiguring Themselves as  
Animals by tomorrow on my desk."  
  
There was a low groan that escaped the class of 5th years Gryffindor and  
Ravenclaw. Being in their 5th year was terrible enough with every single  
Professor lecturing them about the importance of OWLS at every given  
moment, but the Professors did not think that lectures alone would be  
sufficient enough so after every single class, the Professors would give  
out a pile of homework to their class.  
  
Transfiguration was their third class of the day yet their pile of  
homework for the day alone was alarmingly high.  
  
"I would like to remind you that this week is Career Week meaning all of  
you would have an individual meeting with your Head of Houses to discuss  
about your choice of career and the subjects you will be taking for  
NEWTS. Schedule for your meeting will be passed along during dinner  
tonight. Off you go then." Called out Professor McGonagall as the class  
was leaving her classroom  
  
Lily Evans sighed. As if the pressure of OWLS were not enough, Professor  
McGonagall just had to remind them about the NEWTS that were coming up.  
Lily rested her head against the table for a minute to calm herself down.  
  
"Come on Lily. We don't want to be late for Potions," said Melissa Wood  
grimacing at the thought of the smelly, suffocating dungeon.  
  
"Fine," Lily grumbled as she pulled herself up just in time to see James  
Potter ruffling his hair and opening the door for a blonde Ravenclaw in  
an old fashioned manner. The Blonde Ravenclaw gave a high pitched giggle  
before exiting the classroom. Sirius Black gave a loud unconvincing  
cough that sounded more of a snort as he followed James out of the class  
while Remus Lupin rolled his eyes. Lily glared at James retreating back.  
  
"Stupid old frugalities arse." Lily muttered darkly.  
  
"Excuse me?" She heard Professor McGonagall ask sharply. Lily was  
startled; she did not realize she had said that out loud.  
  
"Nothing professor." Lily ducked her head, grabbed Melissa who had  
stuffed her fist inside her mouth to keep herself from laughing out loud  
and exited the classroom. Once outside the classroom, she gave Melissa  
some time to compose herself from a giggling frenzy.  
  
"You should have seen McGonagall's face when she thought you were talking  
about her." Said Melissa as they walked down several flights of stairs to  
the dungeon.  
  
"No," Lily said tying her hair up in a low ponytail. "It was that  
Potter. When will he stop being such a flirt?" Lily grumbled.  
  
Melissa sighed. They have had this conversation a million of times.  
  
"I don't understand you. When he asks you out, you treat him as thought  
he is Bobutuber Pus but when he flirts with other girls, you make it  
sound as though he's making a crime."  
  
Lily said nothing. She hated this feeling she had about James Potter.  
She found his antics of bullying other people and his big sized head  
revolting yet, she hated it when he started chatting up other girls. It  
was like riding the Tilt-a-Whirl ride her parents used to bring her.  
  
"So what do you want to be when you leave Hogwarts anyways?" Lily asked  
as she pushed the door to the dungeons wide open. Their old sinister  
Professor Jawed had not arrived yet. They took their usual seat at the  
back of the class. She had not considered what she would be after  
graduating from Hogwarts in two years.  
  
Lily stole a glance at James who was talking intently with Sirius Black.  
  
"Well at least he has enough sense not to go about chatting with some  
Slytherin Girls." Thought Lily as she took out her quill and a bottle of  
black ink.  
  
"Well," Melissa said dragging the word as she took out some parchments  
from her book bag. "Nothing that requires me to take potions of course."  
She said pointedly looking around at the dusty and crammed dungeons. Her  
nose wrinkled in disgust when her eyes caught an eyeball in a jar at the  
top of the shelf.  
  
"Hear hear." Muttered Lily. She absolutely despised Potions. What was  
the point of it anyways?  
  
"So that rules out being an Auror, opening a beauty shop, potions master,  
working at St.Mungos and anything that requires us to brew something."  
Melissa said ticking off with her fingers.  
  
"None of that appeals to me anyways." Lily was never one to care about  
beauty so opening a beauty shop would be pointless. The sight of blood  
made her sick so workings at St.Mungos were definitely not an option.  
And as for Auror, she simply did not think she was courageous enough even  
though she was placed in Gryffindor. She could not bear the thought of  
making her family wonder every time whether she would come home every  
night. That is also why she resolved not to marry an Auror. The  
worrying would make her sick. Her dad used to be a firefighter before he  
retired and opened a book store and she did not want to be like her  
mother, staying up all night wondering if her husband would come home.  
  
"Well, I definitely want to take Quidditch to a more professional level.  
So I guess that will require me to take Advanced Flying, Charms.." Lily  
no longer listened to Melissa.  
  
She looked at James who was laughing loudly with Sirius.  
  
"What does James want to be?" She found herself wondering.  
  
~*~  
  
During dinner time, schedules were passed to all 5th years about their  
schedule with the Head of Houses.  
  
"I have to see McGonagall after Herbology tomorrow." Lily announced to  
Melissa.  
  
Melissa took a sip of her pumpkin juice.  
  
"I don't have to see her until Friday. Pity. I already know what I want  
to be. I rather wished I could get it over and done with and not wait  
another 3 days." Said Melissa.  
  
Lily chewed her pie carefully. She had yet to consider an option for  
herself.  
  
~*~  
  
After dinner, Lily went to the second floor to Professor McGonagall's  
office. She wanted to re-schedule her meeting with Melissa's. She still  
did not know what she wanted to be aside from the fact that she wanted  
nothing to do with Potions.  
  
Professor Flitwick mentioned about a teaching assistant position for  
Charms a few days ago.  
  
"It is very easy to get the position. It only requires you to get O's  
for your Charm and Transfiguration exam for your OWLS and NEWTS. You  
will also get a free lodging at the basement of Hogwarts." Squeaked  
Professor Flitwick.  
  
Lily had considered that. Charms were her scoring subject and Professor  
Flitwick had nothing but praises for her. Getting O's would not be a  
problem. He also mentioned that since it was only a teaching assistant  
program, the hours were very flexible.  
  
Lily sighed and was about to knock on the door when she heard voices  
coming from inside.  
  
"An Auror, Potter?" She heard Professor McGonagall ask from inside.  
  
Lily's eyes widened. James was having a meeting with Professor  
McGonagall inside!  
  
"Yes." James answered.  
  
"Now Potter, while I do not doubt your abilities and logic to become one,  
the Ministry however would firsthand look at your grades before they even  
consider you to be an Auror. While it is obvious you and Mister Black  
are extremely smart students, it does not however show in your grades."  
Professor McGonagall said sharply.  
  
"I can work harder." Said James eagerly.  
  
"I do not take any students who do not have an average of E's throughout  
the year and an O for Transfiguration for my NEWT class. You right now  
only manage to scrape Acceptable." Lily heard shuffling of some papers.  
  
"I can apply myself. I understand Transfiguration."  
  
"Your Defense against Dark Arts is up to par. Professor Atwood has  
nothing but praises for you. He reckons you'll have a chance to be his  
teaching assistant which coming from him means a lot Potter. He has no  
doubt you can get an O for your OWLS in his subject. If you keep your  
average for DADA as it is now, there is no doubt that you are qualified  
to enter Professor Atwood's NEWTS class next year."  
  
"Yes, professor."  
  
"Your other required subjects such as Charms, Astronomy and Arithmancy  
are only Acceptable right now. You need to apply yourself more."  
  
"I will professor." Lily had never heard James sound so polite with a  
Professor before.  
  
"Your Potions however is below expectations. It is Poor right now and if  
you don't buck up, you won't be able to qualify to be an Auror."  
  
"I'll work harder." Promised James.  
  
"This is a brochure that I want you to read through. You are dismissed."  
Lily heard a scraping of the chair and moved to hide behind a statue of  
armor. What would James say if he knew she was eavesdropping on his  
meeting?  
  
"I must say Potter, you surprise me. I thought you sure would have  
wanted to take Professional Quidditch." Called out Professor McGonagall.  
"I can't say it did not cross my mind. But due to, uh, recent events, I  
think being an Auror would suit me better."  
  
"Quite true. Oh and Potter, try to keep your list of misdemeanors to  
only a foot long this year."  
  
"I'll try Professor."  
  
~*~  
  
After Herbology, Lily grudgingly made her way to Professor  
McGonagall's office. She had a hard time sleeping last night. For some  
reason, she could not get the meeting between James and Professor  
McGonagall out of her mind.  
  
"I thought you went to get it re-scheduled?" Asked Melissa.  
  
"I er, got sidetracked." Said Lily before she waved Melissa away.  
  
Lily knocked on Professor McGonagall's door.  
  
"Come in." Lily opened the door.  
  
"Ah, yes, Miss Evans. I was expecting you." Professor McGonagall  
rummaged through some files and took out a thin file that had EVANS  
written on it in block words.  
  
Professor McGonagall had once said the thinner your file, the better.  
Lily had hears James brag to Sirius that his personal file was too thick  
that he had two files now.  
  
"Now Miss Evans, before we begin. Professor Flitwick has recommended you  
highly for the teaching assistant program for Charms."  
  
Lily nodded, not saying anything.  
  
"But of course Miss Evans, it is acceptable that you might not even want  
to work in the Wizarding world. There have been witches and wizards who  
after graduating from Hogwarts, go back to the Muggle world." Explained  
Professor McGonagall.  
  
"That's not what I want to do."  
  
"However, taking jobs that the hours are flexible such as the teaching  
assistant could give you an opportunity to work for the Muggle world and  
the Wizarding world."  
  
"That's not what I want to do either."  
  
"Well then. You seem to already know what you want to be."  
  
Lily nodded.  
  
She took a deep breath. It was time she listened to her inner voice.  
  
"I want to be an Auror."  
  
A/N: So? You like? Read and Review. I do not have time to read it back  
so just e-mail me when you notice a mistake okay. Thanks. 


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